Telecommunications Infrastructure
Liberalization and Deregulation
Liberalization and Deregulation
The Bahamas telecommunications services are monopolies with the exception of data and paging services. In the late 1980s, the government began taking steps to privatize the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BaTelCo) with the objective of injecting private sector management practices and improvimg quality and delivery of services. The government stated its intent to sell 49% of the company to a strategic partner.
The privatization process began in 1988 with the creation of a group of consultants led by the Deutsche Bank to prepare a proposal to guide the process. The first phase was the recommendation of a company restructuring. This led to a staff reduction of nearly 50% of the work force, or 700 BaTelCo employees. The second phase is to initiate the sale through a bidding process.
In addition, the government has established the Public Utilities Commission to regulate the telecommunications industry.
According to a speech by Alvin Rabushka to the Chamber of Commerce in Nassau on May 14, 1997, published by the Institute for Economic Freedom, BaTelCo is considered the brunt of the most frequently voiced criticisms of all the public corporations in the Bahamas. “Critics charge BaTelCo with high cost, poor quality, deficient service, and serving too much as a welfare program for its employees.... Indeed, members of the financial services sector uniformly expressed concern that The Bahamas risks losing business to other offshore financial centers unless BaTelCo service and price competitiveness improve dramatically.” 1
